Shifting visions of the child

Even after the child had been recognized, his literature on occasion persisted in viewing him as a diminutive adult. More characteristically, however, “realistic” (that is, nonfantastic) fiction in all countries regarded the discovered child in a mirror that provided only a partial reflection of him. There are fewer instances of attempts to present the child whole, in the round, than there are (as in Tolstoy or Joyce) attempts to represent the whole adult. Twain’s Huck Finn, Erich Kästner’s Emil (in Emil and the Detectives), Vadim Frolov’s Sasha (in What It’s All About), and ... (100 of 19,074 words)